Hydrate-based gas separation process, has been considered as a promising approach for gas separation. With the maturity of related technologies, hydrate-based gas separation has presented industrial prospect, and pilot plants have been developed. In hydrate-based gas separation, a gas is separated from its mixture mainly by forming hydrate of the sought gas. However, studies on the separation between the slurry and remaining gas after the hydrate formation were rarely reported.
Currently, traditional three-phase separators are used in the gas-liquid separation of hydrates. For example, Chinese patent application numbered as 201110003883.8 discloses a baffled separation apparatus for hydrate; Chinese patent application numbered as 201410675327.9 discloses a gas-liquid-solid three-phase separation apparatus with a spiral channel. However, hydrates have a tendency to dissociate, and once they dissociate in these apparatuses, the separation efficiency will decrease significantly. Thus, we need to develop a gas-liquid separation apparatus suitable for gas hydrate system.